


Secret ceremonials (only if for a night)

by AabH



Series: Heavy in Your Arms [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Consent Issues, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Explicit Consent, Explicit Sexual Content, Guilt, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Masturbation, Mutual Masturbation, Non-Penetrative Sex, Pining, Sexsomnia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:55:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23482036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AabH/pseuds/AabH
Summary: Will struggles with his sexuality, lingering issues from the Mind Flayer, and his attraction to one boy in particular. A sleepover at Mike's house leads to things other than sleep.Characters are under age but no specific age is given. This story contains explicit sexual contact between minors.***“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!"Will lay still and listened as Mike shifted again. Sure, Mike had apologized, but the damage was done. Castle Byers had been destroyed, and Will worried, some fundamental part of their friendship had been too.
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Series: Heavy in Your Arms [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1689379
Comments: 6
Kudos: 95





	Secret ceremonials (only if for a night)

**Author's Note:**

> Authors Note: Please read the tags and take care of yourselves. The tags are there for a reason. Additional tags include abusive language and crying during sex. I know I tagged both Consent Issues and Explicit Consent for the same story, but you're just going to have to trust me on this. Please let me know if there are any tags I missed. There will be graphic descriptions of everything tagged, so please take care and proceed at your own risk.

It was cold. More specifically, Will was cold. He had been ever since the Mind Flayer had… touched him. The moment it had crept in was one of the worst of his life up until that point. Those smoke-like, ethereal tendrils, slithering in him, through him, invading every bit of his person. And they were cold, really really cold. The paralysis and physical invasion had been nothing in comparison to the loss of self, of his personhood. Those moments of lost time had started slowly, with Will forgetting how he’d gotten from the bedroom to the kitchen, standing there dazed with the refrigerator and freezer doors open. It had progressed, slowly, almost unnoticeable. Almost. 

By the time Will found himself standing in the shower, the water so cold his lips were blue, he was losing upwards of an hour or more at a time. How else could he explain how cold the shower had been unless he’d stood there and run the water heater completely dry? He hadn’t really wanted to think about it at the time, and hadn't wanted to ask for help either. That had been a mistake.

By the time he found himself in the chair, unable to even communicate with his mother, he knew just how big of a mistake he'd made, it was abundantly clear and much to late at that point. It was like being a passenger for the worst car ride in history, one where the diver had not only taken Will hostage, but they had him bound so well that he couldn’t even raise his hands to signal to other drivers that something was wrong. 

But even without verbal cues, Mike had noticed. He was part of the reason that both Will and The Mind Flayer found themselves bound and helpless in the chair in the first place. Mike had seen that driver speeding down the freeway, Will bound and gagged in the back seat and he’d reacted. It had been hearing Mike’s voice, in part at least, that had allowed Will to wiggle free from his restraints long enough to tap out a message. It had been over a year since Joyce had been able to drive the monster from her son, over a year since El had closed the gate and yet… That cold had never really left. It clung to Will like a living sheet of frost. 

He shifted from his place on the floor, and curled tighter into his sleeping bag, hoping to chase at least some of the cold away. The floor in Mike’s room was carpeted, Will had a pillow and an extra quilt his dark haired friend had loaned him. There was no real reason for Will to be this cold, to be shivering the way he was. His back was starting to ache from how hard his muscles were constricting and spasming from the shaking. Even his jaw ached from clenching it so tight to keep his teeth from chattering loud enough to wake the dead.

Will rolled over, shoving the pillow against his stomach so he could have something to grip while he curled up, trying to give his back some relief. 

On the bed above him, Mike stirred.  _ Shit _ . Will hadn't meant to wake Mike with his constant position changes and shivers. It was the first sleep over they’d had since El had dumped Mike, the first sleepover since the D&D incident, since Will had had enough.

“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” Mike had shouted as if that had explained away his behavior, as if it explained away the months of neglect, spending all his time at Hopper’s, ignoring game nights and AV projects. At least Mike had had the sense of mind to immediately look remorseful, to try to take it back, to play it off. He’d apologized, tried to soothe Will, to explain away his actions with any excuse he thought might be good enough. 

It didn’t work, and that initial outburst had hurt. Hurt enough for Will to leave, to flee to Castle Byers, alone in the dark and the rain. He’d gone there seeking solitude, relief,  _ anything.  _ All he’d found there was more grief. 

_ If we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right? _

Yeah, right. 

All it had taken for Mike to go back on that promise was for El to show back up and summer vacation to start. Then it was goodbye to The Party and to Will, and hello to raging hormones and swapping spit with the first girl that didn’t look at Mike like he was an alien. It’s not that Will didn’t like El, because he did. She was brave and she’d saved his life more than once, it was just…

Everything had changed once she showed up. Changed in a way that Will didn’t like. The Party was so fractured now, and the most important member, (to Will at least) couldn’t even be bothered to give him the time of day anymore. 

Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. When Hopper had had enough of Mike hanging around, he’d sneak into the movies with Will, Lucas, and Max. Mike would even share snacks with Will, the two of them sitting alone in the darkened theater so that Lucas and Max could have some privacy. Or at least he had. Even that small interaction was limited these days. When El broke up with Mike, Will had hoped that thing would get back to normal, but they had only gotten worse. Instead of being absent in just body, now Mike was absent in mind as well, obsessing over how to get El back. 

At Castle Byers, Will’s eyes had drifted over the pictures. He lingered on Halloween, the night Mike had made that promise. 

_ “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” _

Will felt the beginning pricks of tears welling in his eyes at the memory. No, it wasn’t Mike’s fault. Maybe it wasn’t anyone’s fault. But saying that, in such a callous, cruel way… Will had never thought Mike would talk to him like that. Yeah, he’d probably known, but he didn’t have to say it like that, not the way everyone else did. 

Queer, fairy, faggot. Even Lonnie, his own father, had called Will that. He didn’t know what he did to let everyone know the truth, but it must have been obvious in some way that Will didn’t understand. He must be projecting it somehow, even if he didn’t know what it was he was doing to let everyone know, he was still doing...something wrong. It had been that night that Will snapped, tearing it all down. He’d even taken up the baseball bat, that stupid thing that Lonnie had given him in an attempt to draw out Will’s ‘masculinity’, and torn down Castle Byers, and hopefully and painful memories that lived inside it. 

_ “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” _

Will lay still and listened as Mike shifted again. Sure, Mike had apologized, but the damage was done. Castle Byers had been destroyed, and Will worried, some fundamental part of their friendship had been too. 

Will pressed the heel of his palms to his eyes in an attempt to force the tears down.

_ Don’t you dare cry,  _ he warned himself.  _ Don’t you dare. _

A sniff escaped his shaking lips and a fat tear rolled down his check anyway. 

“Will?” a groggy voice called softly. “You awake?”

Will quickly rubbed his eyes and cleard his throat, coughing twice before he was successful.

“Y-yeah.”

“You okay?” Mike asked, rolling to the edge of the bed to look over blearily at the smaller boy on the floor. 

Will missed the days of the bunk bed, when he and Mike would fight over who got the top. Mike always let Will win, and when they would stay up chatting it had always been Will who would peek over the edge and down at Mike. But when the toys and action figures had gone out the door, the bunk bed had followed shortly after. 

“Yeah. Just a little cold,” he replied. 

Mike shifted again before sliding off the bed, his feet landing close to Will’s back. 

“Hang on,” the curly haired teen mumbled, voice heavy with sleep. “I think I have an electric blanket around here somewhere.”

Will listened as Mike shuffled sleepily from his bed to the closet and began to fumble around searching through the items in the dark. A few things fell and a soft “shit” escaped Mike’s lips as he tied to shove them back in unceremoniously. “Whatever,” he ended up whispering before letting them fall to the floor. Eventually Mike made his way back over, nearly tripping on Will, but with the electric blanket in hand. He drapped it across his prone friend and sighed, rubbing his eyes. 

“Hang on, I've got to plug it in.”

Will tucked the blanket across his small frame, glad that Mike hadn’t turned on the lights. He didn't want his friend to see him red faced and puffy eyed. He heard Mike cuss again and saw his friend’s silhouette crouch to him. 

“Hey, the outlet is on the other side of the bed,” Mike explained, rubbing his eyes again, trying to clear the sleep from them. 

“Oh, okay,” Will started, glad his voice hadn’t cracked from choking down the crying earlier. 

“Why don’t you take the bed?” Mike suggested. “The cord will reach from up there.”

“N-no,” Will responded. “It’s okay, I’ll be fine.”

“C’mon dude, it’s fine. I’ll take the floor, it’s no big deal.”

“I wouldn’t feel right kicking you out of your own bed,” Will tried, blinking at the shadowed figure of his friend. 

“”Well, we could share like when we were kids,” Mike suggested, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s not a big deal. Here,” he said, pulling the pillow away from Will’s grasp. “Get up, I want to go back to sleep.”

Will sat up obediently, watching Mike toss the pillow on the bed as he himself gathered the quilt and electric blanket and pulled them to his chest. He started to stand, staggering a little as he did, his feet still wrapped in the sleeping bag. Mike reached out in the dark, hand closing around Will’s thin arm, steadying him. 

“Jesus dude, you are cold,” he gasped as their bare skin touched. 

Will supposed he must be, Mike’s hand had felt like a torch against his own chilled flesh. 

“Get in, I’ll plug in the blanket,” Mike murmured, crawling onto the bed and scooting to the side closest to the wall, cord in hand.

He leaned over, searching the wall, his tee shirt riding up his back a little and exposing the skin above his hips.Will quickly looked away, opting instead to join Mike on the bed, positioning himself as close to the edge as he could. He turned on his side, back to Mike as the other boy settled in, apparently having found the outlet. Immediately, the blanket started to warm and Will began to relax, his back still aching from his earlier shivering. Mike had a full sized bed, considerably larger than Will’s own twin. He hoped he wouldn’t bother Mike too much if he started shaking again. It was true that when The Party all spent the night at Mike’s, Will and Mike usually ended up sharing the bottom bunk of the bed, but they had both been a lot smaller then. Even now, despite curling as far away as he could from Mike, Will worried any small movement he might make would interfere with Mike’s ability to sleep. 

“Better?” Mike asked, interrupting Will's train of thought. 

“Yeah,” Will affirmed, nodding even though Mike couldn’t see it. 

Mike shifted onto his back, arm slung above his head in his usual sleep position. He reached out with his other hand and patted Will on the shoulder. 

“Let me know if you need anything else okay?”

“Sure,” Will confirmed, shifting his hips to draw his knees further to his chest as Mike withdrew his hand and settled back in to sleep. 

They both lay like that for a time, Will enjoying the heat the blanket provided. He listened to Mike breathing, waiting for it to even out into that deep, heavy pattern of sleep. It hadn’t yet, and Will tried to stay still so he didn’t disturb the other boy. It was difficult, and eventually Will shifted once, twice, three times trying to find a position to relieve the pain in his back. Mike stirred, rolling onto his side to face Will. Great, he had been bothering Mike, exactly what Will hadn’t wanted to do. 

“You okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just my back,” Will assured, trying to force himself to be still, no matter the discomfort. “It hurts a little is all.”

Will felt the bed dip and almost jumped out of his skin when he felt Mike’s hand rest on his back, palm flat against it. 

“Where?” Mike asked, starting to rub circles with the heel of his hand into the space between Will’s shoulders. 

Will let out a shuddering breath at the contact and squeezed his eyes closed. Mike’s hand was big, almost completely spanning the width of Will’s back, shoulder to shoulder, when he spread out his fingers. The press was firm, working into the muscle it pressed against, trying to force out any knots there. Will swallowed, clenching his jaw as a wave of pleasure radiated out from the point of contact. 

“Will?”

“Uh, um. Just, uh, right there,” Will croaked out. 

He sucked his teeth as Mike started kneading his back in earnest, applying just enough pressure to both hurt and offer relief. Will hadn’t even realized how tightly his back had constricted when he shook. Slowly, Wil felt the tension his muscles stored give up their fight and relax, easing the pain he’d been storing in them. Even after the pain subsided, Will didn’t ask Mike to stop. It felt good, really good to have Mike touching him, massaging him. It was about ten minutes in that Will clenched his eyes even tighter shut. He felt a familiar stirring in his stomach and below and Will tried to focus on controlling his breath. 

_ Stop it, _ he ordered himself.  _ Stop it you freak. Don’t do this now. _

But Mike’s hand was warm and it was making lazy patterns against Will’s back, as if Mike was drifting back to sleep. One of his fingers brushed against Will’s hairline, making gooseflesh rise where he’d touched before the hand fell away entirely, Will stayed still, forcing his body to relax and himself to ignore that feeling that hummed and throbbed through him. He was warm, pain free, and safe in Mike’s room, in his  _ bed  _ of all things. Will let out the breath he’d been holding and fell into a deep, blissfully nightmare free, sleep. 

***

Will wasn’t sure what had woken him. For a moment, he thought it was what was left of the Mind Flayer fighting against the heat of the electric blanket since he could feel the sweat pooling beneath his neck and legs. But no, the heat was welcome compared to the constant cold and he didn’t feel any of those echoing tendrils creeping around. Will shifted and immediately stilled, suddenly very aware of what had woken him. 

Something stiff was pressing into his upper thighs, just below his ass. Mike’s arm was draped over Will’s waist, his nose buried in the back of Will’ hair. The two of them were pressed flush together, and Mike was grinding his hips slowly against Will’s ass just the way Will would sometimes do to his pillows. 

Will stayed still, breath caught in his throat. Surely Mike was asleep, dreaming about some pretty girl. They were teenage boys, erotic dreams were par for the course and having a firm, real body to press against while dreaming must have felt better than a pillow or mashed up blankets. When Mike pressed against him again, Will shuddered and drew a shaky breath.

_ Oh god,  _ Will thought.  _ No, please. _

He felt that stirring again, the same one he’d felt while Mike was rubbing his back. This time, instead of a slow build, it surged through him with ferocity, a wild fire rather than a candle. Without meaning to, without conscious thought, Will’s legs parted, just slightly, as he moved to touch himself over his pajama bottoms. 

God, he was such a freak. This was wrong. What kind of person got off on their best friend shifting and rubbing against them in their sleep? Will had to stop, he had to pull away, he couldn’t be enjoying this. Will bit his lip and pared his legs, just a little more, and pressed back against the touch. Will palmed himself through the fabric and struggled to keep his breathing even, his movements to a minimum. His dick twitched in response, begging for him to stroke it. Carefully, slowly, Will dipped his hand inside the hem of his pants and began to tug. 

It felt good, better than anything Will had imagined, and oh, he had imagined before. What would it feel like to have someone touching him, to have another body pressed close? Will had been having fantasies for a few years, usually nameless people with no faces. When he was around twelve the fantasies had focused in on boys, and one boy in particular. Someone Will felt safe with, that he felt easy and natural with. His best friend, Mike Wheeler, unbeknownst to him, had found his way into Will’s nighttime ruminations. The guilt Will felt about his fantasies was overwhelming, almost all consuming. It made it difficult to look Mike in the eye, to talk to El without a flair of shame.

And now, Mike was gently rocking against him, nestled firmly against Will as the smaller boy rocked back, small noises escaping his parted lips. Will’s hand squeezed his dick firmly, causing it to swell as he slowly, slowly jerked it. He closed his eyes, letting his head roll back against Mike, his taller friend breathing steadily against his neck. God, this was wrong but it felt good and if Will could just, just, just-

Will froze as the arm that had been slung over him flexed, tightening around him.  _ Oh shit,  _ Mike was breathing faster, his mouth was open and so near Will’s neck that Will could feel the moisture of Mike’s breath against his skin. Will held his breath and waited. Mike was making small, strained noises next to his ear and his arm tightened it’s hold on Will, digging into the bones of Will’s ribs. The breath in his ear hitched and suddenly Mike froze too. For a long moment, neither moved. Will heard Mike cuss under his breath, a quiet ‘shit’. 

Will’s heart was pounding in his chest, beating against his ribs like a caged bird. He knew Mike was awake and trying to figure out how to extract himself from the embrace without waking Will in turn. Will swallowed and shifted his hips back, pressing his ass against Mike’s swollen erection and earning a hiss from the other boy. 

“Fuck,” Mike whispered, his dick twitching in response to Will’s movement. “Oh shit, fuck.”

Will slowly shifted again, cautiously putting full pressure back against the other teen. 

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’s okay, Mike.”

Mike hissed again, a low, almost pained sound as Will rolled his hips again.

“It’s okay,” Will assured, voice shaking, unsure if his nerve would fail if Mike didn't start moving again. 

“Shit Will, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,”Mike whispered, starting to pull his hand away from where it encircled the other teens waist. “I’m sorry.”

Will released his hold on himself and grabbed Mike by the forearm, keeping the other still. 

“It’s okay, I swear,” he whispered. “I-I like it,” he said, voice small as he could make it as he squeezed Mike’s arm, drawing his hand from where it rested on Will’s stomach to where he had tented the front of his pajamas. “It’s okay,” he said again, barely more than a breath. 

Mike’s fingers twitched at the contact, and Will gathered his courage to roll his hips forward to the touch, then back against Mike’s still throbbing erection. 

“It's okay, just, we can just, help each other…” he tried, pressing firmly into Mike’s heat. He shuddered when he felt Mike jerk towards him in response. 

“It’s okay.”

Mike released a shaky breath and let his head fall forward, pressing against the damp skin of Will’s neck and shoulders. 

“Y-yeah, okay,” Mike said after a moment, sounding almost as though he was trying to convince himself. “Yeah, we can help each other.”

Slowly, tenatatively, Mike thrust his hips forward, firmly pressing against Will. When he did, the movement caused Will’s body to move with it, pressing his own aching erection to where he still held Mike’s hand. He heard Mike gasp in response and after a moment, felt his friend press the palm of his hand against Will, causing a wet spot to bead and spread across the front of his pajamas. They ground against each other languidly, quietly, Mike palming Will with growing confidence before the freckled teen swallowed.

“C-can I touch you?” he croaked out, voice almost breaking. 

Will swelled at the thought.  _ Yes, god yes. _ Will wanted so badly for Mike to touch him there, skin to skin. He nodded fervently and shifted, wiggling his hips and pulling his pants and briefs down around his thighs. Mike hissed again when he felt Will’s bare flesh touch his. 

“Jesus,” he breathed, pressing hard against Will. “Oh Christ.”

Will gasped and withdrew his hand from where he held it against Mike’s forearm, drawing it behind his back to struggle with Mike’s loose fitting pajama bottoms. 

“Can I touch you too?” he asked, almost a beg.

“Yeah, Jesus Christ, yes,” Mike whimpered, helping Will pull him free and letting out a small mewl when Will grasped him, bare and hard. “Fuck, Will,” he groaned. “Fuck.”

They rutted together quietly, the sweat gathering between them. Cautiously, Mike tightened his hold on Will, slipping the foreskin back from the head and exposing him totally. Will gasped, choking down a moan and brought his free hand to his mouth to stifle the sound. 

Was this really happening? Was Mike jerking him off in his bed and was Will jerking him off against his ass? He whimpered, shoving his own knuckles into his mouth. 

“Shh,” Mike warned, curling his own free hand beneath Will’s head to join Will’s hand against his mouth. “Shh.”

Will twisted, opening his mouth in a soft, uncontrolled moan. He could feel Mike’s fingers against his parted lips and without thinking, he moved to suck them in. Behind him, Mike jerked, letting out his own shuddering gasp as his fingers plunged into Will’s warm, wet opening and Will  _ sucked _ on them, muffling his own cries. Holy shit, Will was sucking on Mike’s fingers and jerking him off and Mike was working him so soft and steady…

Will parted his legs further, guiding Mike between his thighs. Mike growled and buried his face between Will’s shoulders and thrust. Will clenched his thighs together, his sweat giving Mike a warm, wet place to thrust while Will sucked and moaned against his friends long, delicate fingers. It felt amazing but the position wasn’t a good one. Mike shifted, unable to make a rhythm like this. 

“Can… can you get on your stomach?” Mike asked, still rutting against his friend. 

Will nodded enthusiastically, releasing Mike’s fingers with a wet ‘pop’ and rolled onto his stomach, unsure of what to do now. Mike moved as well, positioning himself until he was lying pressed against Will, using his forearms to brace himself up so he wasn’t crushing the smaller teen. Then, he spread his thighs so even his legs were caging Will. He gripped his dick on one hand and guided it between Will’s legs. 

Pressed flat like this, his nose against the pillow and his aching member pressed into the sheets, Will thrust down, willing himself to keep his thighs tight. This felt more familiar, thrusting down into the softness of a mattress, even if the feeling of someone moving awkwardly behind him wasn’t. Mike was struggling to find a good position and pace and eventually he let out a frustrated sound. 

“Is it okay, I mean…” Mike trailed off. “Could you like, raise your hips a little?”

Will flushed, embarrassed, but obliged. He pulled his knees up beneath himself, thighs still pressed tightly together and he buried his face into the pillows to hide his blush as he presented his bar ass to his friend. Mike quaked behind Will, gripping himself and lining up between Will’s thighs. He slipped in, sweat and precum slicking the way. Softly, tenderly, he gripped Will’s hips and started to move. 

Someone was making a low, keening noise and it took Will by surprise to realize it was him. He buried his face further into the pillow and reached down to stroke himself in time to Mike’s thrusts. It was like nothing he’d ever felt before, he could feel everything. Ever time Mike moved, Will could feel him, the tip of his dick brushing the base of Will’s own. Will could feel the fingers gripping his hips changing in pressure, moving him back and forth with every move. Eventually, Mike moved one hand to make lazy, gentle motions over the skin of Will’s back, pushing his shirt up in a mirror of what he'd done earlier. 

It felt so good, so good, and so right. Will didn’t feel like a freak at this moment, and he didn’t feel cold. He felt warm, incredibly warm with both boys sweating through their clothes. Will's shirt was becoming damp and the pajamas around his thigh felt like fire. Mike’s hand on his back, on his bare skin, felt like touching a live outlet. Electric shocks were pulsing through Will and his stomach was getting tight and uncomfortable the more he stroked himself. 

“Uh, uh, ummm,” he panted into the pillow. “Mike, I, I, I’m gonna-” he stuttered, barely a whisper, and then it took him. His orgasm was fierce, ripping through him, making his dick pulse and his knees quiver. Will felt tears rolling freely from his eyes as he gasped and twitched, riding his pleasure as Mike kept moving behind him. Why was he crying? Nothing hurt, it was just all so.. so.. intense. Both the physical and emotional release of it all. Will gulped down a breath of air and repressed the sounds that tried to escape him. When his knees stopped shaking, Will tried to bring his legs back together but it was difficult. He was spent and pliant under Mike’s touches and the other boy shuddered behind him. 

“Will, did you…?” he asked, voice shaking just as Will’s whole body shook from the effects of his orgasm and his tears. 

Will nodded, not turning his face away from the pillow, hoping Mike hadn’t noticed him crying. He heard Mike make a deep, throaty sound and felt the hand on his hip tighten before quickly letting go. Will felt Mike pull away, retreating from where he held and stroked the other teen. The bed shifted again, and Will peeked over his shoulder to see Mike facing away, head bent, hands frantically working between his legs. Will watched wide eyed, vision still obscured by tears as Mike's head rolled back, his lower lips firmly trapped between his teeth. Abruptly, Mike started to almost convulse, his hands keeping an uneven pace even as his shoulders went limp. 

Mike took a few unsteady breaths before wiping himself clean on a discarded piece of clothing and tossing it to the floor and pulling his pajamas back up over his hips. Will suddenly felt very ashamed that he’d soiled Mike’s bedding with cum and rolled away, pulling his own pants back up. When he glanced back, Mike was flopping onto the bed, looking totally spent in the dim lighting that crept from behind the window shades. Will glanced at the clock. Only 5:40 in the morning. Will didn’t know what to do. He knew there was no going back to sleep and he certainly didn’t want to lay in bed in silence or worse, talking about what had just transpired between them. He should leave. If he left now he could make it home before his mom or Jonathan woke up. 

Mike seemed to sense something and rolled over to look at him. 

“Hey, you okay?” he asked tentatively. 

Oh no, here came the talking. 

“Yeah,” Will promised, forcing a smile, once again grateful that the lighting was too dim for Mike to be able to tell that Will had been crying. But, even so, something must have shown because Mike sat up and reached for him. 

“Hey, did I hurt you or anything? I didn’t mean to grab you hard, I’m sorry,” Mike whispered, looking absolutely broken at the thought that he might have hurt Will. “Shit, I’m so sorry,” he apologized again. 

“Uh, no, nothing like that. I’m fine it’s just, I just,” Will struggled to find the words to form his lie. “I need to get going,” Will babbled, quickly wiping his face and jumping from the bed. He crouched, searching in the dark for his shoes and bag. 

“Hey, wait,” Mike started as Will shoved his shoes on. “Are we okay?”

“Yeah, totally," Will assured him, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “I just remembered I promised to help my mom with something is all,” he finished, voice shaking with embarrassment. “But yeah, totally, we’re fine!” he finished, hurrying to the door. 

Mike lay on his side, total bewilderment and doubt plastered on his face. 

“We’re fine, I promise,” Will reassured him a final time before slipping the door open. “I’ll uh, see you on Monday.”

With that, Will hurried down the stairs, as quietly as he could so he didn’t bother Mr. or Mrs. Wheeler. He crept out the side door and mounted his bike, fleeing as fast as he could into the cool morning. 

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: Hey folks, thanks for reading. This is part one of a longer story, all focusing on this subject and these characters. Each segment can be read as a oneshot or all together. I hope you enjoyed this work and will consider coming back for more. I am currently without a Beta reader, so if you’re interested in helping me out, please don't hesitate to let me know. Thanks for reading.


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